EPONYMS (Advanced) (EXERCISE A78E290)

New words enter a language in many ways. Below in the box are eight words which came into English because of unusual things someone did. Place a word next to its description.

Chauvinist      Bobbies     Leotard    Margarita    Guillotine    Casanova      Braille      Derby

(A)   _________________: a close-fitting garment worn by dancers, acrobats, and the like.     Named after Julius ______________ a 19^th  century French aerial gymnast. 

(B)   _________________: a machine for beheading people. Named after Joseph ________.

 A French physician who proposed its use in 1789 as more humane than hanging.

(C)   _________________: a man who is a promiscuous and unscrupulous lover. Named

 after Giovanni _________________ an Italian adventurer, and writer, 1725 -1798.

(D)   _________________: a stiff felt hat with a dome-shaped crown and rather narrowed rolled brim. Named after Edward Stanley, 12^th Earl of _______________ , who founded the ________________ horse race at Epson Downs, England.

(E)    _________________: excessively patriotic or devoted to an ideology. After Nicolas ________________ a legendary French soldier devoted to Napoleon.

(F)    _________________: in Great Britain, the nickname given to police officers. Named after Sir _____________ Peel, the statesman who organized the London police force in 1850.  

(G)  ________________: an alcoholic drink, made with tequila and lime juice. Invented by a bartender in El Paso, Texas, in honor of his girlfriend.

(H)   ________________: a system of writing for the blind. Named after Louis ___________, a French teacher of the blind who invented it in 1852.

Here are a few eponyms used in everyday speech:

The phrase “sideburns” actually comes from Ambrose Burnside, an American jack-of-all-trades and first president of the NRA. His unique hairstyling created a new word!

As tissues have come to be known as Kleenex, the brand name Kleenex is an eponym as well.

If you are said to have an “Achilles’ heel”, it means that you have a weakness of some kind. This eponym goes back to the Greek myths and to the Trojan War. The hero Achilles was dipped in the river Styx by his mother, making him invulnerable, except for the part of his heel where his mother held him. He was eventually killed by being wounded in his heel.

Europa was a woman in Greek mythology, after whom the continent of Europe is named.

             ANSWERS:       

EPONYMS  

                                                                         

New words enter a language in many ways. Below in the box are eight words which came into English because of unusual things someone did. Place a word next to its description.

Chauvinist      Bobbies     Leotard    Margarita    Guillotine    Casanova      Braille      Derby

(A)   Leotard: a close-fitting garment worn by dancers, acrobats, and the like.     Named after Julius Leotard a 19th-century French aerial gymnast. 

(B)   Guillotine: a machine for beheading people. Named after Joseph Guillotine.

 A French physician who proposed its use in 1789 as more humane than hanging.

(C)   Casanova: a man who is a promiscuous and unscrupulous lover. Named after

Giovanni Casanova an Italian adventurer, and writer, 1725 -1798.

(D)   Derby: a stiff felt hat with a dome-shaped crown and rather narrowed rolled brim. Named after Edward Stanley, 12^th Earl of Derby, who founded the Derby horse race at Epson Downs, England.

(E)    Chauvinist: excessively patriotic or devoted to an ideology. After Nicolas Chauvinist a legendary French soldier devoted to Napoleon.

(F)    Bobbies: in Great Britain, the nickname given to police officers. Named after Sir Bobbie Peel, the statesman who organized the London police force in 1850.  

(G)  Margarita: an alcoholic drink, made with tequila and lime juice. Invented by a bartender in El Paso, Texas, in honor of his girlfriend.

(H)   Braille: a system of writing for the blind. Named after Louis Braille, a French teacher of the blind who invented it in 1852.

TO PRINT